Peters



getraut (twine.

NANCY A. DOWNER, OF CANANDAIGUA,

A SSIGNOR TO- HERSELF AND DAVID C.

CHASE, or CLAYTON, MICHIGAN.

Letters Patent No. 91,100, dated June 8, 1869.

PROCESS FCR REDUCING- THESIZE OF PLASTER MOULDS.

The Schedule referred to in` these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all .whom it may concern Beit known that I, NANCY A. DOWNER, of Canandaigua, in the county of Lenawee, and State of Michi-J make and produce the same.

The nature of my invention consists- First, -in casting,l from nature, wax gures, and then,vfrom these casts of full size, diminishing or reducing them to any desirable size, preserving the original symmetry of thefiigure. t Second, in takin'g a cast from the 'features 'of old or middle-aged persons, and properly reducing this, so as to represent the person when a youth.

To enable others skilled in the iart to produce wax figures in the manner I have designed, I will now proceed to describe the mode of operation.

`'lhe iirst impression of the object to be transferred to wax, is obtained by moulding the object in common plasterof Paris, and this may be done as well in casting the features of persons as in casting the shape of any other object. v The accompanying picture, representing` the girl of twelve years, was taken from acast ofthe features of the inventress, now forty-seven years of age. l

After the first impression of the object has been made in the plasterof Paris, as previously described, I-l remove the object from. the mould, and then melt yellow beeswax, and while it is hot,and in its liquid state, pour itslowly into the mould, having rst oiled or otherwise prepared the surface of the mould, to prevent the wax from adhering to it. t

At the time of pouring the molten wax into the mould, I keep Cthe mould constantly turning one way and theother, so as to cause the wax to flow equally over all parts o f the mould, and cause a thin layer of wax, from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in thickness, to form and cool over the surface ofthe mould.

As soon as the wax is cool and hard enough to be removed, II remove it from the mould, and let it stand twenty-four hours in this condition, in order to allow the wax to shrink all it will.

After this, I take fine sand or emery-paper, and

- rub down all the ridges and roughness, so as to leave the surface smooth and even.

I now take from this waxshell, which, in consequence of its shrinkage, is somewhat smaller than the plaster-of-Paris mould in which it was cast, a second plaster-of-Paris impression, in the same manner as in the rst instance, forming a cast of it eX- ternally in its shrunk state. v

From this second cast of plaster of Paris, I proceed at once to form a second shell of' yellow beeswax, the same as before, which, when formed, and twenty` four hours old, will bear the precise features of the original object, except that it will now be just the shrinkage of two wax shells smaller, and as much smoother, as the rst wax shell was made, by the saudpaper.

From this wax shell I take a third cast, in plaster of Paris, as before; and from this third cast- I take a third wax shell, as before, and so on, alternately, between the plaster of Paris and the yellow beeswax, taking, each time, advantage of the shrinkage of the wax, and depending on' this alone, for the reduction from the original, until the final cast of plaster of Paris shall attain the size or age required. It will be observed that each wax shell will be in high relief, the same as the original object, while each cast of the plaster of Paris will be correspondingly depressed below the plane.

After the last impression has been made with the plaster of Paris, instead of taking another wax shell from it, I take the final impression with common white wax, used in making Wax figures, using, for the different colors, linseed-oil, Carmine, English Vermilion-red, and English white lead, and for coloring black I use drop-black and linseed-oil.

Were it proposed .to take a cast of the whole face of a person, one diculty appears, and that is, for the person to respire during the process of taking the rst impression in plaster of Paris. l

To avoid this diiiiculty, I 4first -take the impression of the fa'ce'from the upper lip to the'top of the face, the person meanwhile breathing through the mouth.

After this impression isform'ed, I'remove it from the face, puncture it at the nostrils, and then replace it upon the face. Then take -an impression of the face from the upper lip down to the chin or neck, as desired, eementing the `twmimpressionsl together, the person, in the mean time, breathing through the nostrils, previously' perforated for that purpose.

Having done this, I next remove the whole impres` sion together, from the face, and 'from this I proceed to take .a wax shell, precisely in the manner previously described, down to'any required size or age.

Wherever a beard or hair appears upon the wax figure it may be so colored as to properly represent nature, by means ofthe materials for thatv purpose previously enumerated.

The eyelid, too, has to be fashioned vsomewhat ac cordingto the artistic skill of the designer, after the cast is formed, and the ball of the eye, and ,eyebrows have to be colored, and the eyelashes placed upon the eyelid, and a glass crystal used for the covering of the eyeball, the eye being fashioned chiefly according to the skill of the designer.

f The ears and hair also, to some extent, have to be 'fashioned after the cast is completed, in the same first wax shell with the thumb or finger, by pressing. it out at these sunken places to its natural fulness,

and this can be quite easily and accurately done while the shell is soft 'and pliant, and before it becomes hard and brittle.

In taking the busts of persons, the hair may be replaced with natural hair, or it may be formed on the plaster of Paris, and then colored, as deemed most desirable.

Having thus described my invention, l What I claim as new, and desire to secure by L tters Patent, is Y The mode or process herein described for taking wax figures in alto-rilievo, from nature, down to any desirable size or age, and retaining throughout every feature ofthe original object.

Witnesses: NANCY A. DOWNER.

D. O. CHASE, A. L. DOWNER.' 

